Wednesday, March 04, 2009

What does our military mean to us?

The comments to my post about Lisa Pagan (original article here) are fascinating and show conflicting ideas about our soldiers and the role of the military.

I'll first point out that the military does honor many requests for hardship and exemption:

Since September 11, 2001, the Army has recalled about 25,000 soldiers. Nearly half requested a delay or a full exemption. Some just wanted to finish their school semester before reporting. Others had financial or medical problems that made it difficult to report for duty.

The Army says it granted nearly nine out of 10 delay requests and six out of 10 requests for exemption.

but there still needs to be addressed the undercurrents of why Lisa Pagan and her actions arouse such emphatic reactions.

When is a soldier actually done with his/her service, when they are honorably discharged? When should the government consider itself to have been paid back for training a soldier? How many years does one not have kids, not plan too far ahead, not commit to an educational plan, a job because one might just possibly be called back? How many tours of duty are too much, 4? 5? 7? Are young people who voluntarily sign up told the complete truth about how this action will affect their lives, how they will be owned by the government apparently forever? How long can the stop-loss program keep soldiers who are done with their commitment? What does the misuse of this affect the morale of the troops?

To those who think we are the mightest super power on earth and have the military power to prove it, you haven't been paying attention. Those who get angry when accosted with the brutal facts about waste and incompetence in the military are in denial. Those who immediately attack soldiers who speak out against the war, who denounce their patriotism as fake, mock those who have moral qualms, expose their own deep insecurities. The military has been forced to accept rabid white supremists and radical religious crusaders because recruitment is so low. They have been forced to send soldiers weakened by several endless tours of duty back again into horrifically stressful situations. Soldiers have been refusing to patrol.

As President Obama finalizes his Iraq withdrawal plans, Veterans for America urges President Obama to address the dire conditions on military bases and in communities here at home. Multiple tours, inadequate dwell time between tours, the continued use of stop loss orders, and the heavy use of the National Guard all risk further damaging our military and undermining the faith that servicemembers and their families have in their civilian and military leaders. Many of our brave servicemembers and their families need immediate relief.

At least a dozen Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) are scheduled to deploy to Iraq before the majority of troops are withdrawn. Virtually all units will be on at least their second tour and many will not have had adequate rest between their tours. Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin will all send citizen soldier BCT’s to Iraq over the next several months.

Oregon is scheduled to send the 41st BCT to war for a third time since 9/11. Many Oregon Guard members have not had the three years at home between tours that President Obama promised while campaigning.

As we continue to churn our troops for another 19 months, VFA urges civilian and military leaders to provide adequate dwell time for every servicemember and to cease our heavy reliance overseas on our National Guard. Our troops, their families, and their communities deserve no less.

2 comments:

Currently the Reserves is a 8-year term - it was 6 years during the draft.

She barely had a year left in her total commitment, so it made absolutely no sense to recall her, because there wasn't enough time for her to finish a tour anywhere after the standard refresher course to bring her up to speed. If they needed her, they should have used Stop-Loss and retained her on active duty in 2005, which was a lot busier than today.

This is just jerking people around because they can. It makes no sense to allow general to retire and recall enlisted people.